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Lot Essay
The fashion for mounting Meissen porcelain figures and porcelain flowers with sumptuous ormolu mounts was at its height in the 1740's, promoted by influential collectors such as Madame de Pompadour. The present centrepiece, struck with the ‘C couronné’ poinçon and mounted with seven putti figures emblematic of the Arts and Sciences, is an extraordinary survival of the luxurious production created by the Parisian marchand-merciers.
Only a few examples of related objects are recorded in 18th century documents. The present centrepiece could have been handled by the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux (1703-1758) who specialised in the creation of such luxurious objects. Duvaux recorded in his Livre-Journal on the 12th December 1749 the purchase by the fermier-général Monsieur de Caze, of a costly ormolu-mounted basket filled with branches and Vincennes porcelain flowers:
‘une grande corbeille de porcelain, montée en bronze doré d’or moulu, remplie de branchages de laiton verni sur lesquels des fleurs de Vincennes assorties à chaque espèce, 1500 livres’
On the 26th May 1750, he also sold to Monsieur de Genssin:
‘Une corbeille de Saxe montée en bronze doré d’or moulu, garnie de fleurs de Vincennes, de 35 louis, 840 livres’
A third centrepiece, described with porcelain figures, was sold in the collection sale ‘Religieux de la Mercy’ on the 25th February 1777:
‘Lot 43- Une corbeille ornée et remplie de fleurs d’émail, montée sur un socle de glace, à contours et ornements de cuivre doré d’or moulu, et aux quatre coins quatre figures de porcelaine.’
The most ambitious ormolu-mounted ensemble with Vincennes flowers, was a gift of Marie-Josèphe de France to her father Augustus III of Saxony made in 1749, now at the Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden Museum (inv. PE 707). A pair of similar Vincennes bouquets, on pierced Meissen porcelain baskets but with simpler ormolu bases, is now in the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford (inv. 1917.1234.).
Only a few examples of related objects are recorded in 18th century documents. The present centrepiece could have been handled by the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux (1703-1758) who specialised in the creation of such luxurious objects. Duvaux recorded in his Livre-Journal on the 12th December 1749 the purchase by the fermier-général Monsieur de Caze, of a costly ormolu-mounted basket filled with branches and Vincennes porcelain flowers:
‘une grande corbeille de porcelain, montée en bronze doré d’or moulu, remplie de branchages de laiton verni sur lesquels des fleurs de Vincennes assorties à chaque espèce, 1500 livres’
On the 26th May 1750, he also sold to Monsieur de Genssin:
‘Une corbeille de Saxe montée en bronze doré d’or moulu, garnie de fleurs de Vincennes, de 35 louis, 840 livres’
A third centrepiece, described with porcelain figures, was sold in the collection sale ‘Religieux de la Mercy’ on the 25th February 1777:
‘Lot 43- Une corbeille ornée et remplie de fleurs d’émail, montée sur un socle de glace, à contours et ornements de cuivre doré d’or moulu, et aux quatre coins quatre figures de porcelaine.’
The most ambitious ormolu-mounted ensemble with Vincennes flowers, was a gift of Marie-Josèphe de France to her father Augustus III of Saxony made in 1749, now at the Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden Museum (inv. PE 707). A pair of similar Vincennes bouquets, on pierced Meissen porcelain baskets but with simpler ormolu bases, is now in the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford (inv. 1917.1234.).